


Snuggly Valentine's Fitzsimmons Fic

by Fitzsimmonshield (fitzsimmonsshield)



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Agents of SHIELD, Canon Divergent, F/M, FitzSimmons - Freeform, Fluff, alternative universe, valentine days
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 13:45:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6053818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fitzsimmonsshield/pseuds/Fitzsimmonshield
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fitzsimmons weather a rough day for some quality snuggles. Fitzsimmons</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snuggly Valentine's Fitzsimmons Fic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LittleLeoFitz](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=LittleLeoFitz).



> This is for my Valentine @littleleofitz! Her prompt was: Fitzsimmons cuddled up in bed after a long day. 
> 
> Two chapters =]
> 
> Happy Valentines A!

Jemma’s eyes fixated on May’s heels, avoiding the bright lights flooding the hangar as she exited the plane. Her hands clutched the opposite arms elbows to keep herself from shaking. May bounded out of the hangar quickly while Jemma hesitated, her legs nearly collapsing on the stable ground. She took a moment to adjust, and pushed past a derided Coulson. He had barely scraped his team out alive, another mistake added to his growing list of them. Each time it happened it weighed him down even more heavily. 

Fitz was one of the first off the plane, accompanied by Mack who helped rush a gurney with Daisy lying unconsciously on top of it to the medical bay. Jemma had done all that she could to resuscitate her friend this time around and managed to stabilize her. But it came at a cost. While she tended to Daisy, Lincoln, succumbed to his wounds, and his death was hanging over Jemma’s mind.

It had been a terribly long mission, the team setting out before sunrise Pacific Time to travel to what should have been a simple Inhuman retrieval mission. They had received word of a powered individual manifesting, and wielding their power dangerously around civilians. In actuality, the new Inhuman was terrified so there was an urgency to get to her before she hurt anyone or anyone hurt her. On the ride there, Coulson and Daisy stood side by side going over the data of the mission. They did not have a clear depiction of what kind of power she had, but knew it was causing a lot of destruction on the Eastern seaboard. That’s why Coulson called everyone in on the mission. Daisy, Lincoln, Joey and Mack would lead in apprehending the girl. May, Bobbi and Hunter would provide crowd control, back up and hold off the military or police forces. Fitz would supply extra eyes and ears and prepare the containment cell. Jemma would be on hand to administer medical services to anyone in need. She could also run diagnostics on the Inhuman’s powers and help the team figure out how they work. 

When the plane touched down in the field of a high school, Jemma could already see panic ensuing. Teenagers huddled in masses in the parking lot some distance away, and the local police force were trying to get into the building amidst a stampede of students and faculty. Somewhere in the middle of the high school black smoke rose. It looked like those images on the news of school shootings. Jemma was the last to unhook her seatbelt on the plane, and she lingered in her jump seat for a noticeable moment. As Fitz swept by, adjusting his backpack and running his tablet, he placed a hand on her knee for just a moment. It sent a shiver down her spine and she took a moment to contemplate it, focusing on the softness of his touch and the warmth that now seemed to be spreading throughout her body. When Jemma finally looked up, Fitz looked away. This was the most interaction they had in weeks, Fitz often dipping out of rooms that she entered. He couldn’t look her in the face, but he could read that she was terrified this time around. It was her first real mission with boots on the ground after returning from Maveth. 

It was true Fitz had been avoiding her because he thought she was avoiding him. The conundrum of their ways. They were each too stubborn to reach out and start the conversation they needed to have, and now with danger in front of them, Fitz became scared if anything were to happen to her or to him that not having had it would be worse. But they didn’t have time to talk. He hadn’t really realized he touched her knee, it was his subconscious way of saying he was there as both friend and teammate.

Jemma was immediately thrust into action upon stepping off the plane. There were high school students that required medical attention, and with only the first ambulances arriving on the scene, her medical skills could be used. Fitz followed Coulson to set up a post just outside the school, running the schematics of the building and sending out the Dwarves to locate the Inhuman within the myriad of hallways. Bobbi, Hunter and May worked to dispel the group of police trying to storm an entrance, it allowed for Daisy, Lincoln, Mack and Joey to slip into the building using a Mice Hole undetected. Just as they disappeared within the school, a police helicopter pulled overhead, and Jemma could hear over her communicator Coulson and Fitz discussing the estimated time of arrival of the army. They were hoping to get to the student before they would arrive. 

As her hair whipped around her face from the helicopters propellers, she launched herself in the direction of a group of students crowded around an unconscious friend. Gripping her field bag, she pushed a few of them aside and began to diagnosis the situation.

It was clear the student had suffered a nasty laceration to the forehead, but at face value that’s all it was. Her mind raced with possibilities of unseen injuries. She had to assess how much blood had been lost and barked questions at the cowering students until they had calmed down enough to respond. She radioed in for lab techs to send in a gurney, so at least when ambulances would get here it would be easier to transfer the student. She patched up the head wound with a device Fitz and her had talked about making a very long time ago, and that he brought to life when she was missing, a gel that is injected and expands just enough to stop the outpouring of blood. As the wound naturally heals, the gel gently tightens, lessening the development of scar tissue. It slowly dissolves, and all that remains is a faint scar if anything.

As lab techs reached her side and took over in securing a neck brace and lifting the teenager on to the stretcher, Jemma scanned for the next person to help. The communication in her ear was overwhelmingly busy with chatter, but she could barely make out what was being called over it. She could identify voices, and the longer she went without hearing Fitz’, a lump grew in her throat.

She continued administering basic health services and set up a makeshift triage until the first ambulances arrived and shooed her away. She returned to Zephyr One, standing on the open cargo door. She scanned the surroundings, looking for any teammate. A few moments later a loud rumbling noise erupted from somewhere in the high school, and Jemma could feel the ground underneath the plane rattle. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, alerting her to the presence of electricity in the air. A moment later, Coulson called her over on the comm, something was wrong. She bolted from the plane with her bag in tow, frantically searching for Coulson and Fitz. 

“Dopey’s feed cut out with the explosion, I’m sending Sleepy there to assess,” Fitz’ voice announced in her ear. It pushed her to run faster, knowing that her teammates could be injured. Their comms were silent.

Bobbi’s voice was next to come through; she talked about how her and Hunter were heading to the scene, and the directions to get to where it happened. Jemma climbed through the slice of wall burned open from the Mice Hole. It was clear to her that Coulson and Fitz were making their way to the scene.

A few moments later May spoke urgently that medical attention was needed right away. Tripping over her feet, Jemma burst into a sprint, avoiding dropped backpacks and pieces of ceiling that had collapsed. One of the Dwarves flew in front of her, and she realized Fitz was directing her which way to go. When Jemma arrived on the scene, May, Bobbi and Hunter were crouched over two bodies on the floor. 

“Where’s Mack and Joey?” Coulson called from behind her, they must have been somewhere else in the building when the explosion occurred. May jumped up from Daisy’s side and rushed over to him, explaining what she had seen. Jemma pieced together a fragmented explanation, where Mack and Joey were tailing the Inhuman after Daisy and Lincoln took a devastating hit. Jemma dropped to her knees beside Daisy and searched for visible wounds.

“Coulson, I think we’re dealing with an Inhuman who can replicate other Inhumans powers, or at least turn it against them,” May said gravely. 

Coulson nodded and instructed Fitz to locate Mack and Joey. He dispatched Bobbi and Hunter to accompany him. Jemma turned her head just to watch Fitz run out of the gymnasium flanked by the couple.

She turned her attention back to Daisy.

“She’s…,” Jemma started, panicking for a second as she couldn’t tell what exactly was wrong. Following a hunch she removed one of Daisy’s gauntlets, and could see her arms bearing the beginnings of fractures, just like when she first discovered her powers. What May had said sounded right; the other Inhuman could maybe turn their powers against them.

Jemma reached in her bag for her medical defibrillator, and instructed Coulson to check on Lincoln while she set up the device on Daisy. The moment she set the device on, the shock of the machine pulsed through Daisy. Jemma took in a sharp breath hoping it would be enough to kick-start her heart. Just as she was about to head over to Lincoln and determine the plan of action for his condition, Daisy’s powers erupted, causing the whole room to shake violently as she convulsed on the floor. Jemma made her way back over, dodging upturned floor and spilled debris. Daisy was still unconscious yet her powers were manifesting. In a panic, Jemma placed the gauntlet back on Daisy’s hand and enacted the fail safe device. She held on to Daisy’s arms and pointed them to the farthest wall of the room. Gripping tight, Jemma unleashed a massive amount of Daisy’s power in the direction. The vibrations shot up Jemma’s arms. 

In a moment it was over, and the wall had completely given out, compromising the rooms structure. She could feel a hand grab around her collar and whisk her to her feet. May chastised her decision, and was already scooping Daisy into her arms. Jemma turned and saw Coulson propping Lincoln up. In an instant, May was carrying Daisy in a fireman’s hold, across her shoulders and neck, and as she quickly moved to exit the crumbling room, she latched on to Jemma. Jemma’s feet kicked into gear and she eventually moved on her own accord, and felt May’s grip on her loosen until it wasn’t there at all.

Jemma kept running until she was clear of the collapsing roof and the far enough away from the smoke. Through the haze she spotted an Exit sign and made it way outside. But she was alone. May, Daisy and Coulson were nowhere to be found. She raked her hands through her disheveled, her fingertips catching in the knots. She turned back to look at the school, a plumage of smoke lifting from where she had just been. A voice shouted at her, but with the emergency sirens blaring all around her she couldn’t hear. Panic began to invade, causing her chest to heave in tireless effort to get her air. She clenched her fists at her sides, a pain in them becoming evident. She looked down at them, and despite the soot and small abrasions lining her skin, it was the deep purple bruising that ran from her palms to her forearms that shocked her the most. An ebbing pain washed over her arms, causing her to wince. She needed to get herself treated, and her mind kick started to think logically again, commanding her to head to the plane. Besides, everyone would end up there eventually she hoped.

Escaping with Bobbi and Hunter just in the nick of time, Fitz struggled to keep up with the pair. Bobbi had grabbed the tablet from him at some point and was leading them to where the Dwarves had tracked the Mack and Joey to. Once they reached a building on the fringe of the campus, Bobbi slowed her pace beckoning the two men in tow to do the same. They found themselves in a cautious walk, and while Fitz huffed loudly to regain his shortness of breath he picked up on the now distant sirens. Realizing his communicator wasn’t working, he twisted his head over his shoulder to look at the building they had just come from.

His eyes locked on the rising smoke. 

“B-Bobbi…Bobbi,” Fitz stammered, without turning around. He extended a hand behind him and motioned for her to come over.

Bobbi stood next to him and he wordlessly took his tablet back from her. He tapped a few of the buttons, and unseen to his group, one of his remaining Dwarves rushed to the scene. He turned on the video feed and fixated his eyes to it as the miniature drone maneuvered through debris, scanning the area. 

“Fitz, we have to go,” Hunter said from behind them, his voice a mixture of urgency and nervousness. Sounds not normally emitted from the cocky man.  
“We have to get to the Inhuman before more people get hurt,” Bobbi echoed, her was the opposite of Hunter’s, it was firm but gentle. She placed a hand on his shoulder, allowing him a patient moment to register what they needed to do versus what they wanted to do.

With a begrudging sigh, Fitz set an alert on the Dwarf scanning for his teammates – for Jemma – and passed it back to Bobbi. He lingered for a moment, before returning to tracking the Mack, Joey and the teenager. It would be hours until he would know the answer. 

The trio tracked the teen and Mack and Joey to an abandoned subway platform. It was no small feat, and Mack and Joey were nearly out of ideas trying to unseat her. She wouldn’t budge. However, when Bobbi, Hunter and Fitz arrived, a key tactical change would end the long stalemate. 

Instead of brash decisions and uneven bargaining, Bobbi got through to the girl. She set aside her fears, her guilt, her alienation. After a half hour of just talking to the girl and what they could do for help and help her with, she surfaced. Fitz summoned the Inhuman module, which was a good sign that Zephyr One was back in the air, and Bobbi climbed in the pod with her. 

It was sunset by the time Mack, Joey, Fitz and Hunter were scooped up, exhausted, fatigued, and weary of the news that may await them on the plane.

Coulson was the first one to greet them on the plane, and the first thing he told Fitz was that Simmons was in the medical bay. He bounded past the Director without hearing his addendum that she was going to be okay. Instead, his footsteps hastened until he bumped into a lab tech, just coming out of Jemma’s room.

“Simmons?” he huffed.

The lab tech pointed to the room she just exited.

“Dr. Simmons will be fine, she’s resting right now.”

Fitz digested the information and entered the room, stopping at the entrance. Simmons was surely asleep, her arms in casts set across her lap. While his initial panic subsided, he was struck with the thought that this must have been how she felt tenfold when he was in a coma. He remained standing, watching over her.

\--  
The room was quiet with the lights off- the kind of muted sound that only occurs with freshly fallen snow. She could see the silhouette of his body turned on its side from the small flush of light she had let into the room when she opened the door. She studied the slight lift and fall of his side.

She lingered for a solid moment, but then reached for the doorknob as if to close it after she would leave. He was asleep, she figured, it would be rude of her to disturb him, especially after the day they had. But she had come just because she wanted to see him. See that he was in fact alive. With her hand placed lightly on the handle, not to irritate the small fractures running up her forearms, she began to swing the door close, halfway out the door herself.

Just as she was about to shut the door completely after her, she heard the bedsprings creak. 

“You can come in,” his soft voice a pleasant interruption in the silence.

He had been awake, just taking a moment to sort his thoughts.

“I brought chocolates,” Jemma responded quivering. She slipped back through the doorway and stood at the threshold, hesitant to move any closer.

She could hear Fitz shift his body on the bed again, his weight distributing more evenly. He had propped himself up, using the headboard to lay his back on.

“I don’t bite, y’know,” he continued, his palm patted a space on the mattress next to him.

He couldn’t see it, but Jemma smiled, and a little too quickly she bounded over to the side of the bed. She climbed on it. But sat with her legs tucked under, facing him. From this distance she could just barely make out his face in the dark. She observed the specks of light that fell upon his honey colored hair. Each subtle turn of his head let the light dance through his locks. 

She gently tossed the bag of chocolate in between them, wincing slightly at the wave of pain in her arms.

“How you holding up with your arms?” Fitz asked with concern.

“Oh, it’s not awful. The doctors wanted me on a cocktail of painkillers but I opted for a topical anesthetic and ibuprofen.”

Fitz plunged through the thoughts in his mind. He reached for a bar.

“Are you okay?” he finally asked.

Shrouded by darkness, Jemma bit her lip and turned to the side. Fitz could pick up on her mannerism as if her discomfort was his sixth sense. The answer was blatant. He mulled over an appropriate response, becoming increasingly frustrated that it never used to be this difficult to talk or comfort her. He fixated on her face, searching for the response to be written on there. But she had built up quite a rigor samsa throughout this time. As she dipped her chin, a single tear caught the light, and he watched it glide down gracefully. His mind slipped to thoughts about absolving her of her guilt. He had heard what happened. Many things had changed about Jemma, but she would always retain the ability to blame things that weren’t her fault on herself. She spluttered, inhaling a sharp breath through her nose. Her throat getting caught up in crying. 

“Hey…hey…” Fitz said softly. He lifted his back off the headboard to lean closer to her.

His held a hand out to her in the darkness, gently connecting with her wet cheek. Slightly curving his palm, he cupped the side of her face, using his thumb to brush aside the tears. His remaining fingers tangled in her loose hair.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he continued in a dulcet tone.

With his free hand, he moved the bag of candy onto the bedside table and scouted into the space next to her. Her sobs no longer emitted from a disembodied shadow.

Jemma stared directly at his face, homesick for a time she once may have known. Fitz’ shoulder brushed against hers, and the sensation of touch beckoned her to find solace. She pressed back, nestling her head into the crook of his neck.

While she let the residual tears expend from her eyes, a clarifying thought took residence in her mind. She wondered when the keyframe moment was when she had fallen in love with this man, finally arriving in the future. All her life, she danced through crushes on broad-shouldered, chiseled cheek men. The kind whose hands bore callouses and their gazes emitted a steely confidence. She would bat her eyelashes, giggle at jokes that weren’t nearly funny enough for the effort. Her heart would beat fast every time they were n the same room.

But with Fitz, how she felt manifested in a completely different way. Her love developed slowly over the years, falling into place as a comfortable rhythm. With him, and when in the same room, even though she wasn’t aware of it, her heartbeat would fall into syncopation with his. As the cavities of her heart flushed and drained with blood, his own mirrored. She desired the ability to have her memories flow backwards, to live out plans with the awareness of what being in love with someone else was like. 

Fitz draped an arm around her shoulder, his fingers finding consolation in her loose waves. 

“If I didn’t cause the room to collapse… I could have saved Lincoln,” Jemma finally spoke, her voice stunted under duress.

“From what I heard, you saved Coulson, May and Daisy doing what you did,” he responded. The vibrations of his voice that filled his chest pulsed through her. And the gentle rattling released an enormous unseen burden on her chest.

She exhaled.

“What’s that girl going to think of Lincoln’s death? She’ll blame herself,” Jemma examined, seeing the other side of things for once rather than her own self-depreciation. 

“That will be a bridge for the team to cross when we get there,” Fitz consoled, tracing his hand down from her head to her shoulder. He gingerly let it slide down, lightly grazing her skin until stopping at the rough of the cast.

Jemma lifted her head off of his chest and careful not to apply pressure to her arms, re-positioned herself to lie on her back, her head beset by a pillow. Her relaxed her arms across his stomach, like she had been directed earlier to when she was in the medical bay of the plane. She was tired, but her mind was too active to shut off. A persistent headache tortured her every time she closed her eyes, even if only for a brief moment.

Fitz followed her lead, filling the spot next to her on the narrow mattress. It surprised him how natural it felt to be at her side, sharing the same small space. He nestled his arms at his sides, his arm closest to her brushing against her thigh.

For a while they lied dormant, both fixated on the glow of light spread across the ceiling. It wasn’t until Fitz decided to fold his arms behind his head, narrowly missing bumping into Jemma’s head in the process, that she resurrected the conversation. She had been running a hypothetical discourse in her mind and had worked up the nerves to test out the theory. She removed her gaze from the bland distraction of the ceiling and focused on his face.

“You must think me a fool for not saying everything I’ve wanted to, everything. It’s silly that I can prattle on for days about redox chemistry or thermoregulation, but when it comes down to the science informing my decisions and how I feel I clam up. I’d like to think it’s because technically everything in science is a theory- and yes we have our laws- but how I feel about you is so certain, that it in part terrifies me.”

Jemma stopped herself from continuing. She realized she was talking about dancing around her feelings and was doing exactly that. Instead, she ripped a page from Fitz’ playbook. She carefully slung her left arm across his abdomen while twisting her own body. The arm that would normally be underneath her in this position found station under the pillow her head had just been lying on. She had propped herself up to just hover over his body. Their chests close enough to graze each other upon each inhale.

“Love is essentially a product of the chemical reaction of dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin, Fitz,” she whispered.

Without preservation, she closed the gap between them, enacting on the chemical reaction exploding throughout her body. Fitz met her lips with as eager a response. The kiss sent an ecstatic sock through both of their bodies. It was well-paced, deep with equal commitment, unlike the fiery and confusing kisses they shared in the lab. Pulling away, Jemma rested her nose on top of his, biting her lower lip and searching his eyes for confirmation. He offered a smile back; his eyes alit with the awakening of an epiphany. Before returning to lay down, Jemma playfully bumped the tip of his nose. As Jemma settled back to laying down, she shifted to her side, allowing Fitz to turn on his side as well. He rested his head amidst the sprawl of her hair, soaking in the sweet scent of her shampoo. His arm curled over her waist to hold on to her tightly. It didn’t take long before they both fell asleep, their heartbeats still in perfect rhythm.


End file.
